Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hughes for her question. We know how important child care is for thousands of Australian families, and that's why the Morrison government has delivered a targeted, measured childcare package that is keeping out-of-pocket expenses low and allowing more parents to work should they chose. Average out-of-pocket costs are now just around $4 per hour, almost 18 per cent lower before our childcare package was introduced more than three years ago. The mechanism we introduced to restrain fee growth, the cap on hourly fees, is also working with 86.2 per cent of services charging below that cap. But we know that these costs still add up when you have two, three or more children in care at the same time, so we're bringing forward an additional support for around 250,000 families with two or more children in care. These families will receive an additional 30 per cent subsidy covering up to 95 per cent of their costs. So a family earning $110,000 a year with two kids in care four days a week would be better off by around $100 a week.

We said we'd introduce this earlier if we could, and now we are delivering. The work we've done to ensure that the IT framework is ready and in place and centres will be prepared is under way. We're bringing these measures forward to March next year, saving the average family with two children in care around $700 this financial year and $2,200 a year going forward. The Morrison government is committed to increasing economic opportunities for Australian women and families, and this additional childcare support will help remove disincentives for primary carers, particularly mothers, to participate in the workforce. This is especially important as our economy begins to open up, providing women with more choices and more chances to enter or re-enter the workforce.